Welcome! This blog is for members of the Minneapolis ECFE Parents Council (formerly known as the "PAC"). Here you will find minutes, updates, links, and discussions relevant to the Parents Council. Take a look around the site or click on the tabs below for detailed information.

Saturday, September 17

Meeting Minutes 9.15.11

7:10 PAC Welcome Packet and update roster (Kori) – make sure you're on the roster if you plan on being a member this year. (Membership requirements = attend 2 meetings + be on a committee [offsite options available for members who cannot attend meetings]) SouthPAC represents classes at Wilder, Kenny, Longfellow and Andersen (Andersen primarily Spanish speaking families, so may not be able to get representation from there)

Jean Breitenbucher – new liaison, District Program Facilitator for South ECFE sites. Focus is on leadership with birth-three (North DPF focuses on 3-5) Many registration issues this year with all the changeovers. Most of these have been documented and should be taken care of this year.

7:30 Chinook Books (Jen) – Mobile app included this year with book purchase ($10 value). Price is still $20 of which ECFE keeps $10. We have plenty of extras so anyone who wants to sell some let Jen know. Plan is to sell them until the November meeting (11/10). Sites will keep the $$ from any books they sell. This year we will ask site liaisons to report back on what the money was used for so we can promote the event with parents.

7:40 Scholastic (Suzanne) – Catalogs will go out next week; two weeks to order; books should be back by early October. Once again ordering will be online, so remind people to include their site name on the form!!!!

7:45 Advocacy (Megan) – will look over documents from previous years to get up to speed. Interested in Latino issues in particular – how can we better facilitate communication between Spanish-speaking classes and PAC/LAC? Possibly look into getting bilingual assistant to translate so we can offer that service. Transportation is also an issue.

7:50 Preschool Fair (Elise) – Need to get translator for fair. At Burroughs on November 19th 10-1 – spread the word!! Email Elise if you have schools you want included. 8:00 Ginger Bread (Nicole) – Burroughs on December 3 from 10-1. Nicole will gather all the supplies (Angie has plastic knives!) but needs help breaking up graham crackers. Tony note: please let Jean know ASAP once dates are set so staff can make plans for attendance

Housekeeping: Get Google docs onto Dropbox. Re-send Dropbox invites.How do we get flyers translated? How do flyers even work this year? (Tony gets flyers translated for Andersen and Wilder; bilingual aides also make announcements.)